It is not very often that I get a chance to sit down with a Kickstarter project owner and get a demo of their game. Shortly after doing a Funding the Dream Kickstarter Podcast with Thomas Rushing, co-creator of Time Flux, I had the chance to sit down with him and receive a personal demo of the game.

Time Flux is a well thought out game, with straight-forward mechanics and an engaging experience. I personally am not a Magic: The Gathering player, but it is obvious that the game is heavily influenced by the style of play from M:TG.

Thomas, who appears on the Kickstarter Video, is obviously comfortable teaching people how to play his game. Actually, after a quick run through, it was obvious that Thomas is comfortable teaching any game to anyone. In just a few short examples, I was able to begin understanding the ebb and flow of the game and the strategies involved. Watching Thomas and three friends play the game at full speed, it was obvious as well, that my understanding was only that, an understanding and nothing close to mastery.

The game can be played with up to four players. In the multi-player version, the game mechanics discourage aggressive ganging up on a single player since doing so weakens yourself in such a way that by the time play comes back around to you, you have a good chance of becoming the victim of an aggressive attack yourself.

A nice mechanic of the game is the flexible nature of your capabilities. Your intelligence is based on the character you are playing AND the number of cards in your hand. When playing a card, it has an intelligence rating which you must posses at the moment of using the card. Which means if you aggressively use your cards to attack with abandon, you will become vulnerable to counter-attacks and often not be able to use the cards in your hand because your intelligence has dropped below the threshold necessary to use the card.

The basic game is well suited for further expansions, something that Thomas stated was already planned. Even though the game is called Time Flux, this is currently a working title for the Kickstarter project and will not be the final name of the game. Time Travel, which is implied as a part of the game, is touched upon lightly. The game is played fast and has a polished feel to it.

If you are a M:TG fan, you will certainly want to take a look at this project.